Focused on Jesus is one of the ethos of
FBC. This sermon is based on Daniel
3:13-30. It was about the story of King
Nebuchadnezzar instructing the three Jewish men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
to worship the golden idol he made, but they refused. So he threw them into a furnace, but to his
surprise they were not hurt. He came to
acknowledge the God of the Jews.
What made the three men so firm?
It was their identity with God. It was the key to give them the confidence of
His help in time of troubles.
Daniel 1:6-7
The men from Judah, their names changed by
the Babylonians. Daniel became
Belteshazzar, Haaniah became Shadrach, Mishael became Meshach and Azariah to
Abednego.
Meaning of their names
Daniel Belteshazzar
God’s judge Nebuchadnezzar’s God
God’s judgement
God is my judge
Hananiah Shadrach
Yahweh is gracious Command of Moon god (Shudur Aku)
Mishael Meshach
Who is what God is Who is what “Aku” is
Azariah Abednego
Whom Yahweh helps Servant of “Nego”
Their names in the Jewish language were
meaningful and they were related to God.
They knew God very well. They had
identity with God. Whereas the
Babylonian names were nothing related to the true God but related to idols and
their gods.
The young Jewish men knew God and they will
not bow down to any idol. The
Babylonians tried to shape their thinking and their identities, but they did
not succeed in changing them into the Babylonian’ ways. The young men were so sure that they told the
king even if they did not survive being thrown into the furnace that was
alright because God may have other plans.
Who am I in Christ? What am I in Christ?
We often take the Communion, and we
realized how much God loves us. He died
for us. We do experience storms in our
lives, but we know God is there for us.
Let us hang on to Jesus. We in
Christ are more than conquerors. Conquerors
of darkness, and inequalities to show love, grace, and sympathy to those who
need them. Christ in us help and shape
us.
Bro. Song shared a story of a troubled
teacher trainee who seems to give troubles to the lecturer. Later Bro. Song and his wife found that her
mother died while she sat for her Form five exam and later their father
abandoned them. She has to look after
her brothers. During school holidays,
Bro Song and his wife found her a temporary work at a day care. This shows the heart of God.
Focus on what?
Focus on love, sharing the Good News,
helping the needy, pray for the people touch them.
Bro. Song shared a story of a former
prisoner who was totally changed after he came to Christ. After his release he went back to his kampong
and kneed in front of all the villagers to ask for forgiveness. They forgave him. He asked the villagers to give him building
materials to re build his house and they did.
This Christmas Bro. Song, Bro. Ben and Pastor George celebrated
Christmas with him in his kampong. This
showed the heart of love.
In another story of a teacher who was about
to retire. He did not know what to do as
his identity was his work as a teacher.
As he approached his retirement he began to forget usual things like
locking his house. One day he forgot to
lock his house and his computer was stolen.
Focus on Christ alone, identify with
Christ.
Reflect God. We live for Christ and not for ourselves.
Conclusion
Galatian 6: 9-10
9 Let
us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a
harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do
good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
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